48 Hours a Day

Chapter 998: The Third Path

“Now that’s a good idea!” Maitreya’s face finally showed a touch of joy. “Mr. G was right. As expected, no matter what troubles you face, you always find a solution.”

“Really, what else did he tell you?” Zhang Heng put away the gun.

“It is true he’s at fault this time. He shouldn’t have lied about the job. When we return to the first floor, Mr. G said that he would personally apologize to you. Not only would he operate on you and pay you five million credits, but there are other compensations too. Basically, he would do anything to make sure that you are satisfied,” Maitreya respectfully said.

“That’s mighty kind of him. He only thought of me when he was forced into desperation.” Zhang Heng said casually.

Maitreya smiled, not denying what Zhang Heng said. “Anyway, it is better to be useful than useless. So only those who are skillful will be used by others, and those who are as skillful as you are allowed to control your fate.”

“What about you?” Zhang Heng sounded noncommittal. “Why are you willing to risk your life to be courier for tonight’s transaction.”

“I want a better world where there are no class differences, exploitation, deception, and everyone can find the meaning of their existence...” A yearning look appeared on Maitreya’s face.

“With all due respect, no matter the society you live in, there will always be class division and exploitation,” Zhang Heng said. “As for the meaning of self-existence that you mentioned, most ordinary people wouldn’t be able to find it, whether clone or not. ”

“That’s really pessimistic. No wonder Miss F said that you are not an idealist.” Maitreya sighed. “Your life must be very boring. Even though you have strength that everyone envies, you can’t find a reason to put it to good use. You are like a knight with a sword, but there is no lord for you to serve.”

“I have seen many idealists. Under normal circumstances, there are only two paths presented in front of them. Either they are defeated by reality and forced to give up their idealism, or they will choose to stick to their idealism and die in despair.”

“Fortunately, we will not take either of the two paths that you mentioned because we have an outstanding leader,” Maitreya smiled.

“I haven’t finished,” Zhang Heng said. “Very few will take the third path. Those who choose the third path will realize the huge energy contained in their idealism, and they would start making good use of that energy. If the person is a perfectionist, they could be very convincing at the time. Some of them would start to gather their believers in the name of their idealism. After that, they would gather their believers and trick other perfectionists into serving him. In the end, their blood would pave the way for the person to claim the throne.”

After Zhang Heng finished, the room fell into silence. And after a while, Maitreya said, “Heh, that’s quite a refreshing idea. But I believe Mr. G is not like that.”

“This is just random off-the-mill stuff. Don’t take it too seriously. You don’t have to admit anything.” Zhang Heng then looked at the time again. After that, he pointed at the baseball-capped boy on the ground. “It’s almost time to contact the emergency response team. Bring him with us. We have to move. This place is not suitable for us to contact them.”

...

Zhang Heng was supposed to meet the emergency response team at an amusement park. Maitreya and Zhang Heng drove there, and they saw the locked gate. Under normal circumstances, the amusement park’s staff would leave work at nine o’clock, leaving only one old security guard to guard the gate. Obviously, the latter could not defeat Zhang Heng and Maitreya.

After knocking out the old security guard, Maitreya found a set of keys from his duty room. He then opened the gate, and the two drove into the amusement park. This was the largest amusement park on the second level, equipped with various interesting rides. Children usually loved to come here. Zhang Heng parked the car at the racing kingdom located at the southwest corner. The ride featured dozens of car models that were identical to their real counterparts. If the real cars were parked here, spotting the clone would be almost impossible if not tested individually.

Zhang Heng and Maitreya agreed that if too many emergency response team members attacked them, they would return to this spot and drive away from the amusement park. After that, Maitreya installed Feng Zi’s self-made high-definition camera on the highest spot in the park, the Ferris wheel. Other than that, he also did some preparations at the spot Zhang Heng requested.

At twelve o’clock, a zero-emissions car pulled up outside the amusement park. Two men and a woman got out of the car. Wearing bullet-proof suits and armed to their teeth, they walked to the gate, looked at the lock, and were about to use brute force to break the lock when they heard Zhang Heng’s voice coming from the speaker in the front gate.

“Just leave the car outside. The small door is unlocked. Just enter from there.”

The man and woman then looked at the man leading the way. Seeing the latter nod, the three walked through the open small door. After they entered the amusement park, they started searching around vigilantly. The woman among them raised the heat detector in her hands and checked the rides around them to see if there was an ambush.

It took three twenty minutes to walk to the center of the amusement park. But even after combing the place, they still didn’t see Zhang Heng and Maitreya. Unexpectedly, though, they found the baseball-capped boy who had disappeared earlier. Strapped to the Ferris wheel’s highest point, they didn’t know know if he was alive or dead.

The leading man made a gesture, and the other man got into the control room and looked for the start button.

Maitreya then looked at the feed from the camera. He felt a little nervous. After that, he said to Zhang Heng, “There are three enemies. Should we fire or flee?”

“We can’t escape. They still have eight people. Since the three of them are here, that means there are five of them guarding the station. So we can’t possibly break through their barricade. In other words, we have to deal with the three enemies here first. It will force them to send the rest here.

“How is your marksmanship?” Zhang Heng asked after a pause.

“I served in the Marine Corps before. That was where I learned to shoot. And I got excellent results. I guess my marksmanship is better than most, but I’m definitely not as good as those monsters out there,” Maitreya smiled bitterly.

“Then you should find a place to hide in the next battle. Look at the screen and update me with their movements in real-time,” Zhang Heng said.

“Understood.” Maitreya did not try to force himself to fight with them.

After Zhang Heng assigned the task, he climbed onto the pirate ship ahead of him, holding his Lego Baretta. Being about two kilometers away from the Ferris wheel, even the thermal detector couldn’t detect him.

Zhang Heng set up the gun on the pirate ship, measured the wind speed, and looked at the temperature, humidity, and atmospheric pressure. After that, he aimed at the leader and pulled the trigger without hesitation.

The bullet whizzed through a distance of two kilometers and hit the target’s chest on point before a gunshot rang. The gunshot was so powerful; his whole body was sent flying as if someone threw Thor’s hammer directly on him.